Page 94 of Iron Rose

I shrugged. This was the first I had heard of this. “He didn’t say…”

“Ugh.” Hugo sighed, interrupting us all with a huge roll of his eyes. “Putain!” He swore in French, “It’s not that fucking complicated.”

Callum stared at the Frenchman with his mouth open.

“Jericho went to make war with his brother, the pakhan of the bratva, so that he could keep her safe,” He waved a dismissive hand to indicate me. “If he takes over the bratva, no one will be after her.” Then he shrugged. “She is worried about her father figure getting hurt, and abandoning her again, because she obviously has…c’est quoi en Anglais?... Uh… Daddy issues.”

Hugo flapped his hand dismissively, as if what he said was a fact, and not wildly insulting. “So our ‘Englishman’,” he threw air quotes around the last word. “Has gone to New York to get his cousin, the head of the Irish mob, to join the war in an alliance with Jericho, so he can bring her father back to her unharmed.”

Hugo shrugged, staring at the audience that was now aghast. “C’est Simple.”

Callum blinked several times, as if he was uploading information into his brain, and it had stalled somehow.

“I’ve never heard him speak this much before,” Geordie said under his breath.

“I wasn’t sure he could speak.” Leo added.

The room was just stunned by this revelation. They were too busy to realize that I was having a panic attack. My gaze was on my bandaged hands. He must have done this. There were some on my shins, too. He had put me to bed and taken care of my wounds. And now, like Jericho, he could slip from my fingers.

I came to stand on shaky legs.

“I have to go,” I whispered.

Callum’s hand smacked the table. “Do you love him?”

“What?” I asked, turning to him.

“Do you love him?” Callum pointed an accusing finger at me. “I’ll not be protecting some tramp if you don’t actually—”

“—Mind how you talk to her.” Lea slammed her hand on the table.

“Don’t you dare.” Leo growled at the same time.

The twins both glared at Callum. They leaned in towards him.

“That’s our family you’re talking to,” Lea said. “If she’s not welcome here, then I go too.”

Callum narrowed his eyes at her. She glared right back.

“You take liberties with my hospitality for someone who says she’s not my woman.” He leaned into her ear and said something under his breath.

She continued to glare, not backing down an inch.

“Aye,” Geordie said. “Alastair wants us to keep her safe. So we will.”

“If you’re thinking of running after Alastair,” Lea said, her face soft with sympathy. “You won’t be able to. We’re keeping you here and safe until he gets back. That’s what he wanted us to do, so we will.”

My eyesight traveled from her, to Leo, then to everyone else in the room. When they landed on Hugo, he shrugged, but then his eyes narrowed, like he just had a thought.

“In the meantime,” Leo said. “We’ll all cool down from this news. And talk later.”

He got up from the table and walked by me. He put his hand on my shoulder and hesitated for a moment.

He leaned in to me and said, quietly, “I’m not as nuts about your dad as she is.” He nodded to his sister. “But a word of advice? Don’t say anything bad about him to her. She gets super bitchy about it.” Then he winked at me. “We’re happy to have you in the family either way.”

Chapter 38

Alastair

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